


Siebenbürgen

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, F/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-18
Updated: 2008-09-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:10:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6045976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It might be impossible to make her reconsider marrying Austria, but that doesn't mean he can't at least try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siebenbürgen

"Together, we could have been something." 

In a gesture that could have easily been misinterpreted as a sign of modesty, her hands rumpled her skirt to prevent them from shaking any further. Anyone who knew her as he did, however, could tell that she was holding back not to deal him a blow.

"Save those words for someone who actually wants to hear them," she said, not even bothering to look at him. Prussia didn’t mind—he was mesmerized by the sparks of color coming from the fireplace and painting her profile in such warm tones.

"And to think," he continued without paying heed to her words, "that I helped to bring the two of you together. Should I have refrained from making your betrothed bite the dust? I’m fairly certain that the milksop wouldn't have become so frightened then. He might have even considered his options instead of asking your hand in marriage to prevent a new revolt."

"You speak as if you could possibly regret expanding your territory," Hungary laughed off his comment, letting go of the death grip she had on her dress to comb her hair with her fingers. She worked slowly, spreading each ringlet so that the fire had a chance to melt the snowflakes that still clung to her like a bride’s veil.

"See, Hungary, you know me so well." He slid closer until his arm was brushing her shoulder. It was an innocent gesture on his part, but she still froze. He thought she would reach for a log then—he had considered just how fast he would have to move to step out of the way, but she merely stood her ground. She wasn't one to surrender easily, and that was one of the many things that fascinated him about her. 

"We have so many things in common, too. We were born to fight, not to worry over something as vain as whether a clavichord is out of tune or not. And yet there's an art to what we do." He ran his fingers over the hem of her dress as he spoke, wishing he could peel the layers of clothing under which her skin hid from sight.

"Withdraw your hand at once or I'll rip it off."

It was his cue to pull back. Even then, he kept provoking her by remaining close enough to feel her breathe in and out, so close that he could look into her eyes and see the rage she held within. It did little to dissuade him from playing with fire—there simply was too much at stake for him to retreat.

“Won't you have mercy on me? Ever? You know how dearly I love you," he said, laughter in his words. It was the truth, but he didn't want to give himself away entirely. If only she had known how hard his heart had beat when he lay eyes upon her after so long, she would have laughed at him.

"I would have mercy if you, by any chance, deserved it. Or if at least you knew where your place is." She wore a little mocking smile as she said so, even if a light blush had crept up on her face.

"And where is that place?"

"Far, far away from me," she said.

"Then, why did you agree to see me?” Prussia dug his nails into his palm, making an effort to keep to himself the effect that her words had on him. “Why set foot in a town I once helped you to guard if you find me loathsome, including all I left behind?”

She looked at him from head to toes and scoffed. “Why, do I need your permission to pass through my own territory?”

“Just answer this, and I swear I’ll leave you alone. If you want me gone, why do you allow me to be so close to you? A little closer and I might have to kiss you. Will you grant me that wish? You know that what I don't acquire by peaceful means, I acquire by force."

"Just you try," she warned him, but he only laughed. It didn’t escape his notice that she hadn’t answered any of his questions.

"You’re too proud to acknowledge it, but you and I know that we’re made for one another," he said, risking to infuriate her further. Oh, but how he liked to see her angered, if only to watch her delicate eyebrows draw together before she yelled at him.

"The cold has frozen that thick skull of yours, somehow," Hungary said, knocking softly on his forehead. He took her hand and held it briefly against his heart. She was so warm it made him shiver.

"It’s a perfect setting, isn't it? The two of us taking shelter in one of my erstwhile fortresses, a winter storm raging outside…” Despite the cold, he had been waiting for her since early in the morning, pacing back and forth until he saw her walking towards him at last, her steps muffled by fresh fallen snow.

Hungary grabbed him by the collar and looked at him in the eye, but the joke was on her. He actually relished the closeness. "That's the only thing that keeps me here, do you understand? Snowflakes alone wouldn't stop me from staying away from you. I don’t even know what possessed me to come here."

“You hurt me so," Prussia said with a wide smile, as if it all were a joke to him instead of something painful. She chose to believe his tone rather than his words and let him go, putting distance between them. He hugged his body as soon as she turned away, rubbing his arms in an attempt to retain some warmth. It didn’t seem like the storm would let up any soon, but he felt as if he were pressed for time, as if their time together were running out.

She looked over her shoulder and caught him shivering. “Ah, don’t tell me that the great rising power that is you has become vulnerable to the bad weather!" Hungary laughed openly and he wished she hadn’t, but perhaps he deserved it for taunting her earlier.

He smiled, poorly this time. “Unlike some people, I wasn’t born in the cold steppes with the skies as my sole roof.”

"You're truly pitiful." Hungary shook her head, and patting a spot close to her, she said, “Come closer to the fire.”

Prussia was stunned into silence, but that didn't prevent him to act as quickly as he could, afraid that she would change her mind. Still, he did take a few liberties, resting his head on her lap and draping his arms around her waist instead of sitting next to her as he had done before. He thought she would raise hell, but she paid him the same kind of attention that anyone would have reserved for a fly. "So her ladyship is kind after all," he said, enjoying her warmth and the softness of her garments.

"Only because I would hate to stay here with a corpse." Hungary covered him with a corner of her cloak and touched his hair lightly as if testing the waters, and given that he chose that very moment to remain quiet, she ended up tousling his hair with abandon, letting whatever snow was left melt between her fingertips.

"Forget about him," he whispered, curling up against her body.

Her silence was loud, but not enough that he couldn’t hear the fire crackling and his heart, again, skipping a beat or two. After a while, she continued working on his hair. "I think that the only reason you care at all is because you think of me as one of Austria’s toys, and you must have them all, no matter what."

"I can't stand the fact that he gets everything handed to him on a silver platter, but you’re terribly mistaken if you think this is about him. As if," he said angrily, tightening his arms around her.

"If you're after my riches, you have been misinformed," she said with a chuckle, and he had the feeling that if he told her again that he loved her, she wouldn't take him seriously.

He turned his face to her, hoping that she would look back at him. "A kiss. Just one. Is that much to ask?"

"It is," she replied softly, “because you would never be satisfied with a token that small. I loathe to think what else you would set your sights on.”

"Don’t fault me for being ambitious," he said, raising his hand to touch her face. She couldn’t help a gasp—he was ice cold.

"Aren’t you aware that it’s not with you that my loyalties should lie?” Hungary whispered, but she still took his hand between hers, stroking his palm and blowing little puffs until his skin became warm.

“They shouldn’t lie with Austria either, and I’m sure that the fine Magyars would agree with me on this, if on nothing else,” Prussia countered. She fell silent again, except that there was something different about her this time. She was looking at him as if they were children once more and nothing else mattered but their own rules, as he had wanted her to look at him when he asked her to go hunting all those years ago.

He raised his upper body and kissed her once, twice. By all means, it wasn’t perfect. For all their experience in the battlefield, they were still fairly green when it came to the matters of the heart, what with their noses bumping and their teeth clattering together as their lips met. But he kissed her again until they settled into a rhythm that suited them both, and she not only let him, she encouraged him and answered just as fiercely. “Tell me that you favor me over him. That no one can ever understand you the way I do. That you're mine,” he pleaded with her.

“I am but my own," she said, the green in her eyes raw.

“And I’m nothing but yours,” Prussia said, watching how her gaze softened upon hearing his words. 

Rather than taking her, it was she who climbed on top of him, who guided his hands, who set the pace, and he didn't mind because she was magnificent as she conquered him the way she would have done with a swath of land. Austria would never be able to appreciate this about her, not fully. He would claim to admire her strength while he sought to tame her, and if that ever happened Prussia would never forgive him.

“He doesn’t suit you.” He meant to lend gravitas to his words, but he ended up sounding very much like the spiteful child he wanted to prove he wasn’t, one who recoiled at the idea of having to give up his most prized tin soldier.

She tousled his hair again, letting her fingers linger around his cheekbone before she said, “Hardly anyone does.”

The weather had cleared up by then. There was white as far as the eye could see and such silence that all he had to do was to whisper to make himself heard, all of his fears cast aside other than the fear of losing her. “I love you.”

“Please, don’t make things harder than they should be,” Hungary said under her breath, her lips quivering as if she were cold. He would have wanted to comply with her wishes, but he couldn’t help it.

“I love you. I just do,” Prussia said in a small voice, and she nodded, kissing the corner of his eyes, and then his mouth, and the skin just above his heart.


End file.
